The present invention relates to a recording apparatus which has a liquid container removably mountable in the main assembly of a recording apparatus. In particular, the present invention relates to the structure of the juncture between the main assembly of a recording apparatus and a liquid container.
In an ink jet recording method, a desired recording is made by causing ink droplets to be shot out of microscopic ejection holes in an ink jet head in such a manner that the ink droplets land on recording medium.
Conventionally, a recording apparatus records on recording medium such as paper, fabric, plastic sheet, OHP sheet, and the like. It employs one of various recording heads different in the recording system they employ. As for the types of recording heads mounted in the main assembly of a recording apparatus, there are various recording heads different in the recording methods they use. For example, there are a wire-dot recording method, a thermal recording method, a thermal transfer method, and an ink jet method. Among various recording apparatus, those that employ an ink jet recording system (ink jet recording apparatuses) have been commercialized and have been used as an outputting means of an information processing system, for example, a printer as an output terminal of a copying machine, a facsimile machine, an electric typewriter, a word processor, or a work stations or a handy printer, that is, a portable printer, with which a personal computer, a host computer, a disk apparatus, a video apparatus, and the like, are provided.
The ink jet head of the above described ink jet recording apparatus is provided with ejection energy generation elements for generating the energy for ejecting ink from the ejection holes. As for examples of the ejection energy generation elements, there are an electromechanical transducer such as a piezoelectric element, a laser, an electrothermal transducer having a heat generating resistor, and the like. In the case of laser, electromagnetic waves are irradiated from the laser to generate heat used for ejecting ink droplets, and in the case of the electrothermal transducer, ink droplets are ejected by heating liquid by the electrothermal transducer.
In recent years, a great amount of progress has been made in the fields of computers and the software therefor. Consequently, it has become necessary for an ink jet recording apparatus to be capable of outputting a color image. In order to cater to such a necessity, some ink jet heads have been enabled to record in color.
Further, not only has it become necessary to record in color, but also to record with a high degree of preciseness. In the case of an ink jet recording method, the capability to output an image with a higher degree of preciseness and quality has been realized by increasing printing density, changing ink density, and/or the like. As a result, a recording apparatus which employs an ink jet method has come to be widely used not only by business people and computer professionals, but also by personal users in homes and small offices.
An ink jet recording apparatus such as the above described one requires a single or plurality of ink containers for holding ink. One example of such ink containers is an ink cartridge, which is removably mountable in the main assembly of an ink jet recording apparatus.
FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view of an ink cartridge mountable in a conventional recording apparatus, and shows the structure thereof. FIG. 9 is a sectional view of the ink cartridge shown in FIG. 8.
As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, this ink cartridge has an ink storage chamber formed by an ink container 541 and an ink container lid 542. It also has a waste ink storage chamber formed by a waste ink container 543 and a waste ink container lid 545. Within the waste ink container 543, an absorbent member 544 for absorbing and retaining the recovered ink (the shape of the absorbent member 544 in the drawing represents the shape of the absorbent member 544 after its installation into the waste ink container 543) is contained. The lid 542 is attached to the ink container 541 by supersonic welding. It is also by supersonic welding that the waste ink container 543 and its lid 545 are attached to each other.
The ink container 541 is provided with a plurality of tubular claw grippers 555, which are located on the external surface of one of the lateral walls of the ink container 541, and the waste ink container 543 is provided with a plurality of claws 554, which are located on the external surfaces of one of the lateral walls of the waste ink container 543. Thus, as the ink container 541 and waste ink container 543 are slid against each other, while keeping the lateral wall surface with claws 555 and the lateral wall surface with the tubular claw grippers flatly in contact with each other, the claws 554 engage into the tubular claw grippers 555, securing the ink container 541 and waste ink container 543 to each other.
As the ink container 541 and the waste ink container 543 are joined with each other, the external surface of the lid 542 and the external surface of the lid 543 become level with each other. These two surfaces are each provided with a housing 550 which contains an ink path. Each housing 550 is filled with a dorm-shaped elastic member 556, and is capped with a crown 547 or a fixing member. These components make up the joint portion through which the ink storage chamber is connected to the apparatus main assembly to allow ink to flow between the ink storage chamber and the apparatus main assembly. This joint portion and its adjacencies are surrounded by a wall 553 provided for preventing a hand or the like from coming in contact with them. The height of the joint portion is approximately the same as, or less than, that of the wall 553.
As an ink cartridge structured as described above is mounted into the recording apparatus main assembly, two hollow needles (unshown), with which the recording apparatus main assembly is provided, penetrate the corresponding elastic members 556, establishing two passages between the interior of the ink container 541 and the recording apparatus main assembly to allow the liquid within the ink container 541 to be sent to the recording apparatus main assembly in exchange for the air therefrom.
More specifically, the ink which has been stored in the ink container 541 is supplied to the recording apparatus main assembly through one of the hollow needles having penetrated the elastic members 556, and the air is sent into the ink container in return through the other hollow needle.
However, a conventional ink cartridge such as the one described above is not given a function of allowing a user to determine whether or not an ink cartridge has been properly mounted in the recording apparatus main assembly during the mounting of the ink cartridge into the recording apparatus main assembly Therefore, there is a possibility that an ink. cartridge will be pressed against the recording apparatus main assembly by an unnecessarily large amount of force, and such application of a large amount of force might result in damages to the ink cartridge and/or the recording apparatus main assembly. Also, there is a possibility that an ink cartridge might be repeatedly mounted or dismounted until a user becomes convinced than the ink cartridge has been properly mounted in the recording apparatus main assembly. Such repeated mounting or dismounting of an ink cartridge means more probable the occurrence of damages to the ink container or recording apparatus main assembly. In other words, lack of the aforementioned function completes a user to carry out an otherwise unnecessary operation, which is a problem.
The present invention was made in consideration of the problems, such as those described above, which the conventional technologies have. Thus, the principal object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus, a liquid container cartridge and a liquid container which informs a user that a liquid container has been properly mounted in the recording apparatus main assembly to reduce the possibility that the liquid container and/or the recording apparatus main assembly will be damaged.
According to the present invention which accomplishes the above described object, a recording apparatus, which records by adhering liquid to recording medium, comprises a main assembly and a liquid cartridge, the main assembly being provided with a second electrode which comes into contact with a first electrode, or the electrode on the ink container side, to allow the data stored in the storage element of the liquid container to be read by the apparatus main assembly side, and the liquid container being structured to be removably mountable in the main assembly, and provided with a storage element for storing data and a first electrode connected to the storage element, is characterized in that:
the liquid container is provided with a stepped portion, which creates a recess in which the first electrode is disposed; and
the second electrode is provided with such resiliency that keeps the second electrode pressed upon the first electrode in the recess, or the portion created by the stepped portion.
The liquid container is characterized in that it is provided with a guiding means for guiding the liquid container when the liquid container is mounted into the recording apparatus main assembly, and the first electrode is positioned on the inwardly facing surface of the wall provided with the guiding means, in such a manner that the first electrode opposes the guiding means through the wall.
The liquid container is characterized in that it is provided with a space, the stepped side of which is provided with an opening through which the second electrode is inserted into the space, and that the first electrode and storage element are located within the space,
The second electrode is characterized in that it is bent in such a manner that it does not contact the upper level portion of the aforementioned stepped portion, when the second electrode is in contact with the first electrode.
Further, according to another aspect of the present invention, a recording apparatus which records by adhering liquid to recording medium, and comprises a liquid cartridge removably mountable in the main assembly of the recording apparatus, is characterized in that:
the liquid container is provided with a hole having no relation to the supplying of liquid to the recording apparatus main assembly; and
the recording apparatus main assembly is provided with a lever which engages into the hole as the liquid container is properly placed in the recording apparatus main assembly.
The liquid container is characterized in that it is provided with a space into which the second electrode is inserted, and the hole having no relation to the supplying of the liquid to the recording apparatus main assembly is located in this space.
The liquid container, which is provided with a storage element in which data is stored, and a first electrode connected to the storage element, is structured to be removably mountable in a recording apparatus provided with a second electrode to be connected to the first electrode, and stores the liquid used for recording, is characterized in that
a portion of the liquid container, in which the first electrode to which the second electrode is to be connected is placed, is provided with a stepped portion.
The stepped portion is characterized in that the surface to which the first electrode is placed in recessed from the other surface, that is, the upper level, of the stepped portion.
The stepped portion is characterized in that the upper level of the stepped portion, is on the trailing end of the recess, in terms of the inserting direction of the second electrode, into which the second electrode is inserted to be placed in contact with the first electrode.
In a recording apparatus structured in accordance with the present invention as described above, as the liquid container is inserted to its normal position in the recording apparatus main assembly, a passage is established between the interior of the liquid container and recording apparatus main assembly to allow the liquid within the liquid container to be supplied to the recording apparatus main assembly, and also, electrical connection is established between the liquid container and recording apparatus main assembly to allow the data stored in the storage element provided on the liquid container side to be read by the recording apparatus main assembly. Toward the end of this insertion of the liquid container into the recording apparatus main assembly, the second electrode of the recording apparatus main assembly rides over the upper level of the stepped portion, while being kept pressed upon the upper level by its own resiliency, and snaps into the recess, coming into contact with the first electrode, as soon as it passes the upper level. As the second electrode snaps into the recess to come into contact with the first electrode, it provides a user with a clicking sensation while generating a clicking sound. The clicking sensation and sound enables a user to recognize that the liquid container has been properly mounted in the recording apparatus main assembly, and also that proper electrical connection has been established between the liquid container and recording apparatus main assembly,
The liquid container may be provided with a hole unrelated to the supplying of liquid to the recording apparatus main assembly. In such a case, as the liquid container is inserted to its normal position in the recording apparatus main assembly, the lever provided on the recording apparatus main assembly side snaps into this hole of the liquid container, providing a user with a clicking sensation while generating a clocking sound, which enables the user to recognize that the liquid container has been properly mounted in the recording apparatus main assembly.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon a consideration of the following description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.